"Do Not Lower Your Dreams, Raise Your Standard Instead": Shruti Sharma ( Alloted Dena Gujarat Gramin Bank Clerk)

Hello Friends,

I am Shruti Sharma from Ahmedabad. I have been preparing for IBPS exams for the last 2 years and finally tasted the first success last month when RRB results were declared. Through my experience, I have realised that “the higher you raise your standard, lesser the competition exist”.

– IBPS PO 2015- shortlisted for mains, missed by 2.5 marks

– IBPS PO 2016- shortlisted for interview, missed final list by 1.3 marks

– IBPS RRB PO 2016- scored +23 than cut off in mains but missed math sectional cut off by 1 mark

– IBPS RRB Clerk 2016- Alloted Dena Gujarat Gramin Bank

– IBPS Clerk 2016- Reserve List

Initially, I had problem with my self-belief. I was not at all confident of cracking an IBPS exam. Out of 25-30 lakh candidates, how I am going to be the one? That’s how I used to think…but just one sentence told by our Career Power faculty, “Kya fark padhta hai ki exam kitne log de rahe hain? Aap to bas ek akele vyakti ho jiske liye ek hi seat kafi hai…bas uss ek seat ke liye tumhe khud se hi ladna hai..auron se nahin!” It totally changed my approach towards competition. I clearly understood that you just need to compete with yourself. The higher you will raise your standard, lesser the competition.

Another problem with me was that I did not like to work/study hard so I decided to study smart. As Abraham Lincoln once said, “Give me 8 hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first 6 sharpening the axe.” So that’s how I used to prepare. If I had a day, I would spend two hours (previous night) to prepare a study plan. If I had a week, I would spend a whole day in deciding what to study, what not to study and how to study. I did not like Maths at all so I decided to make my Reasoning & English section even stronger so that would compensate for the Math section. I do not like to read books, so I used to watch videos and give as much online STs I could. I would make sure I give an ST daily and 2-3 STs, 10-12 days before any exam. I used to manage my time & schedule. I have a habit of preparing a day & monthly study schedule which helped me to be consistent, persistent and wake up daily with the same enthusiasm. I have never ever worked hard, believe me. Never ever did I study for long tedious hours (a mere 4-6 hours) but if you organise your daily schedule properly and execute well on a regular basis, then it will do wonders. Besides, I stopped using my phone, uninstalled WhatsApp and deactivated my Facebook account. I also stopped making or receiving calls.

Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, once said, “’I choose a lazy person to do a hard job because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.” I am the same kind of person. Throughout my life, I have always done what I wanted to do, where my heart was, what I was passionate about. Above all, I have a habit of finding the easiest way to do a job and that eventually made me a well organised person.

SMALL is the New Big- We tend to focus on big things but often do we forget that small things make up that Big thing. We focus on bigger goals but forget to work on smaller goals. That’s where we commit blunders. We cannot achieve the bigger goals unless we work on smaller ones. Like, we make big goals e.g. I need to finish the whole reasoning section within a month but we do not make daily plans like what things will you cover in a day, i.e today, tomorrow, day after tomorrow etc. We focus on complex things while it is easier to do simple things. Everything is in the mind…we believe that things are difficult to achieve and so we make everything complicated. In reality, everything is simple. It is just that we keep wearing a glass of illusion. Take out that glass and see straight from your eyes and not though the eyes of others…else you will find everything in this world to be complex and difficult. You can because you can that’s it! There are no ifs and buts!!

“Do not lower your dreams, raise your standard instead and remember that fear of failure is the only failure!” All the best…Work Smart, Study Smart!

Regards,

Shruti